THE FIREDREAM

(Author's Note: In support of the aspirations
of the Havasupai Indian Nation.)

I feel wild again
like those wild and wooly days
we chased the buffalo
and the nights slept
beneath the stars.

Even,
my heart runs wild-
wild with hot emotions
of tomorrow's deadly hunt
and challenge to live.

Within the campfire
resides abandon
recounting
the path lost yet still worn,
the mixed metaphors
hovelled in ash-

The winds of gathering strength,
the quiet of calm surrender;
The tempest of violent flame,
the hush of dying embers;
The mover of earth's destruction,
the maker of new existence.

And awakens the firedream.

Wild with imaginings-
visions
of the Great Spirits
who make talk
above the mounds
they lie.
When one day
I, too, shall hunt
the great buffalo
of the sky.

And fearless
will I be, upon
the broad wings
of the bright and shiney bird
who nests on the dark
clouds of night
streaked
from the deep
like a fallen star.

"COURAGE IN THIS LIFE IS
GREATNESS IN THE NEXT."

For now,
I must cherish
the sayings
of the Great Fathers
as I cherish
the warmth of the campfire
that keeps my heart
alight, and dream
on morning's fresh odors-
wildflowers drenched
in gouts of dew.

Conserving
all other wild feelings
when face to face
with the buffalo-
face to face
with the will
and courage
to live.

Copyright 2010 Francis Don Daniels.
All Rights Reserved.